Advocates blame Apache County animal control crisis on sheriff

Note: This story reports on distressing content. Discretion is advised.

After a deputy with the Apache County Sheriff's Office shot and killed seven abandoned dogs last year, uproar about the animal control crisis there has come to a head.

Activists say authorities are resorting to inhumane tactics to deal with the problem, but the sheriff's office says it's doing the best it can. 

The cage where 16 dogs were abandoned in Apache County stands empty nearly a year after a sheriff's deputy was given the order to shoot them to death.

"I was outside doing some chores, and there he was … I was absolutely sickened," Joshua Jeffery said. He witnessed the dogs being shot.

Outcry over body cam video obtained by Mountain Daily Star's Molly Ottman spread. Animal activists say Apache County Sheriff Joseph Dedman was solely to blame.

They say they called him to prosecute the people who abandoned the dogs and to help them place the remaining nine dogs in shelters.

But, deputies ignored both requests, resorting to using a handgun to put the canines out of their misery.

"If the sheriff's office would have had the heart to do the right thing, this could have been a dramatically different ending," Jeffery said.

According to activists, there have been numerous endings like this when residents report animal cruelty. A crime that proliferates in the wide open spaces of Apache County.

Cope Reynolds, who is running against Sheriff Dedman in November, says he's seen the horror and abuse himself.

"Crimes are blatantly being ignored. And the hoarding, there's some of these places out here that you would not even believe," he said.

This spring, Concho Animal Advocates Director Heather Hutchinson says she was called to a home hoarded with animals, including 15 dogs.

The homeowner had died, and the starving animals had eaten his body. The animals began to turn on the corpses of other animals to stay alive.

Terrified neighbors called the sheriff.

"The deputies shot two of the dogs and left them there. They also shot the one surviving goat and left him there. They left the property and closed the gate, and left 13 dogs behind," Hutchinson said.

FOX 10 reached out to Sheriff Dedman multiple times. His office said he would not be appearing on camera, but would release a statement.

The statement reads, in full:

"The Deputy involved acted in a professional and most humane manner given the circumstances. He exhausted all other alternatives available to him at the time and acted under the approval of his immediate supervisor. The incident was reviewed by ACSO Command Staff, and the Deputy was found to have acted within agency policy.

Apache County is a large county covering over 11,000 square miles, with only a handful of deputies to provide law enforcement and a variety of other services to the citizens of Apache County and the State of Arizona. The deputies are trained to act on their own, make split second life or death decisions and handle any situation they are confronted with in a professional manner within the law.

Apache County does not have an animal care and control department. In the unincorporated areas that responsibility is left up to the deputies and actions taken vary and are considered on a case-by-case basis. We do not have the infrastructure or budget to support such a department. Approval for such a department would be made by the Board of Supervisors. We have had private agencies like the Arizona Humane Society offer to assist on cases in the past, but not on a consistent basis, mainly due to the remote response and availability of local resources."

The board of supervisors did not respond to requests for comment. 

With only 28 deputies patrolling 11,000 square miles of land littered with animal cruelty cases, Sheriff Dedman says shooting and killing the sick, emaciated dogs is the most humane thing they can do. 

All activists can do, they say, is vote Sheriff Dedman out of office.

If elected, Reynolds is vowing to bring in a veterinarian and use the small budget the county does have to train the few deputies Apache County has to enforce animal cruelty laws before more dogs, cats and livestock have to needlessly suffer and die.

"It comes down to caring. Do you really want to do something about this? Make a phone call. Get on Facebook. Put the word out there. Don't just sweep it under the rug," Hutchinson said.

For now, private shelters in and around Apache County are the only option for abandoned and neglected animals.

You can donate/volunteer with these animal services to help:

• Concho Animal Advocates: https://www.facebook.com/ConchoAz85924/
• Tails of Love Rescue: https://www.facebook.com/tailsofloverescue/